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In Our Nature
Why do we feel so overwhelmed, anxious, disconnected and lost...and what does that have to do with what's happening on our planet?
This show explores the hidden connections and deeper patterns that are forming our inner struggles and the wider crises unfolding around us. From mental health to ecological collapse, productivity culture to planetary grief, from burnout to reconnection, join me to poke around in the stories, systems and patterns shaping this extraordinary time...
...and then let's riff on what becomes possible when we stop pretending it’s fine and feel the feels.
Your host is me: Siobhán Friel. I'm a mental health practitioner, a Work That Reconnects facilitator and I was probably a lavender plant in a past life.
This podcast offers a way to make sense of your inner and outer world, especially if you were shaped by capitalism (like me) and not by a lineage of ecological literacy, love and wisdom.
You haven't missed the boat. There are many boats and this is one. Get in.
In Our Nature
Why You Might Be Feeling a Bit Crazy: The Maddening Paradoxes of our Time
If you feel like you’re quietly losing your mind while the world carries on like everything’s normal, then I have good news: You are not only quite sane indeed but pretty amazing. Let’s be friends.
In this episode, I roll out the picnic blanket of shared madness and invite you to sit on it with me while we explore the paradoxes and absurdities that make the nice people feel like they’re the crazy ones.
We touch on:
- What I mean by "mad" and "crazy"
- The way paradoxes and contradictions dog our lives
Oooh a dog! - How this affects our brains and bodies (and leads to the mad feeling)
- A helpful framing from Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects
- What nature has to say about this
- Some imperfect suggestions of how to be with all this
Mentioned or relevant:
- Episode: We’ve Made up What Mental Illness Is (And Who Decides What’s Normal Anyway?)
- Just one swear but it’s needed: “headfckry”
- Nature’s a fan of Alanis Morisette
- The piece I mention is here How to Get Your Citizens to Think They Are The Problem (& Not You): A Cheat Sheet for Psychotic Systems
- Get support or guidance from me here
- The people I work with are using this as a companion resource at the moment: An Earnestly Incomplete Non-Guide for the Disillusioned, the Lost and the Totally Bewildered
- If you’d like updates and invitations, pop yourself on to my Friends List
- I write on Substack too—come hang out there if you wanna.
- Show me your chaotic art on Bluesky
- The Work That Reconnects can be explored here
- The Common Earth Insights course is coming up soon, too: join me here (it's fully funded at no cost to you)
- Everything I do is by donation or gift. You can donate to support my work here if you want (thank you, amazing person)
Gosh what a stupendous amount of links.
Thank you so much for being with me today. You are the orange to my peel 🍊
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